If Only the Spirit of Giving Could Continue

On Christmas Day and throughout the holiday season, attention is turned to the needy in our midst--the hungry, the homeless and especially the children who face the bleak prospect of no toys or other holiday surprises. Many receive welcome attention, gifts and food from kind residents eager to share with those less fortunate.

In recent days we have published stories about police in Santa Ana delivering food baskets donated by local companies to needy families. We’ve written of community and charitable organizations donating toys, trees and money. And of prisoners at the County Jail making toys for needy children.

The charity of the holiday season is traditional--and welcome. The problem is that so much of the sharing spirit, like the holidays, is seasonal.

In affluent Orange County, it is difficult for many residents to imagine how much poverty actually does exist. So much of it goes unseen. That may be one factor that helps explain why so many people here give so shamefully little to charity.

National surveys have shown that the average household donates between 1.9% and 2.4% of its annual income to charity. But giving in Orange County falls far short of those averages. Here, where the $44,000 median family annual income is among the highest in the nation, the 1988 Orange County Annual Survey released earlier this month showed the median annual donation to charity this year at 0.4% of the median family income. That amounts to only $182 per household. And that paltry amount is a drop of about 30% from what was given in 1987.

To make matters worse, the decrease comes when the need is growing by disturbing numbers.

The Salvation Army reports a 120% increase in the number of county families needing food and rental assistance since 1986. Although Orange County has one of the lowest percentages of people in the state receiving public assistance (less than 3% compared to about 12% in Los Angeles County), the Orange County Social Services Agency reports that the number of general relief cases has doubled in the last 5 years. And during the first 5 years of this decade, the percentage of county residents classified by the federal government as poor nearly doubled.

Those are just not cold statistics. They represent hungry people who need help. It is disgraceful that, surrounded by such comfort and wealth, they are not getting it.

Charity and the spirit of giving understandably prevail during the holiday season. But come January, when most people go back to their normal routines, the hunger and homelessness recognized in the holiday season will remain. It would be nice if more of that spirit of giving remained too. Helping the needy is always in season.